Concrete-form locking means



March 11, 1958 J. c. SHOEMAKER 2,825,956

CONCRETE-FQRM LOCKING MEANS Filed Aug. 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jmes 6f fboeznaliez" March 11, 1958 J. c. SHOEMAKER CONCRETE-FORM LOCKING MEANS Filed Aug. 25, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2,825,956 Patented Mar ll, 1958 ice CUNCRETE-FQRM LOCKING MEANS James C. Shoemaker, Loves Park, 11]., assignor to Simplex Forms Systems, lno, Loves Park, 111,, a corporation of Illinois Application August 25, 1953, Serial No. 376,423

7 Claims. (Cl. 25-431) This invention relates to a new and improved knockdown type of concrete form construction equipped with novel locking means which enable quick and easy setting up and taking down besides insuring ample strength and rigidity in the form structure.

Concrete forms have been made up of sections bolted together at the abutting edges and fastened together along the top andbotto m and near the middle by what were known as Whalers, each of which consisted of two long boards fastened together in closely spaced relation by cross-pieces, so that the headed ends of the tie pins extending between the inner and outer walls of the form and projecting between the abutting ends of sections and through the spaces in the Whalers and serving to space the inner and outer walls of the form by the abutment of washers on the pins with shouldered portions on the pins could be secured to the Whalers by means of wire clips shaped like hair-pins and disposed crosswise of the space between the longitudinally extending pieces of the Whalers and straddling the headed ends of the tie pins. Such a construction, even though it is a knock-down type, took far too much time in the setting up and taking down, and, as a result, with the present high labor costs, it meant too much of an increase in the ultimate cost of the concrete foundation. It is, therefore, the principal object of my invention to provide a simpler form construction that requires only a small fraction of the time (and, hence, labor cost) previously figured necessary both in the setting up and taking down of the forms, to the end that concrete foundations may be made at much lower cost.

A novel feature of my improved construction consists in the use of spacer tie pins that fit at their opposite ends in bayonet slots in one end of strips fastened onto the outer side of the form sections in the inner and outer walls of the structure, and tie bars or levers that are permanently pivotally mounted on the other end of the same strips for swinging movement in planes parallel to the outer faces of said form sections and at right angles to the projecting headed ends of the tie pins, whereby to tie together the inner and outer walls of the form in rigidly spaced relationship, the tie bars serving at the same time to tie together in coplanar relationship and tight abutment neighboring sections of the inner and outer walls of the form, so that the setting up and taking down operations take only a fraction of the time required with the old construction and with a minimum amount of wear and tear on the form sections. The tie bars are slotted vertically at their pivoted ends to per mit bodily adjustment of said bars up or down to cornpensate for the inevitable amount of runout from coplanar disposition of the adjoining ends of the strips to be coupled together on neighboring form sections. This not only enables easier coupling but also enables drawing together the ends of neighboring sections much more tightly than would otherwise be possible.

The invention is illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which.-

Fig. l is a perspective view of a concrete form structure incorporating locking means made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a typical corner of the improved concrete form structure of my invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line 33 of Fig. l to better illustrate the use of the tie pins;

Fig. 4 is a side view on a slightly larger scale of the locking means at any one of the stations, and

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of Fig. 4.

The same reference numeralsare applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numerals 6 and 7 designate the inner and outer walls, respectively, of a concrete form structure made in accordance with my invention. Each of these walls is made up of a number of fairly small and light rectangular sections 8. Each section may, for example, be about two feet wide and about eight feet long, the length being equivalent to the depth of the basement whose walls are to be made from poured concrete. The sections 8 are disposed in abutting relation and secured together by spacer tie pins 5 and tie bars or levers 10, with the inner and outer walls 6 and 7 held in uniformly spaced relation and the sections 8 in each of these walls secured together firmly in coplanar relationship and tight abutment. Each section 8 is preferably of wooden construction for lightness and cheapness, and preferably includes a wall forming wood veneer panel 11 secured to a reinforcing framework consisting of wooden uprights 12, 13 and 14 secured in parallel relationship to the outer side of the panel 11, said uprights being in turn secured together by horizontally extending fiat metal strips 15 usually at three levels, namely, at the top, bottom, and middle of the form sections, although more may be employed in the case of an exceptionally deep basement. The strip 15 are fastened permanently in transverse relation to the outer edges of the uprights 1214 by screws, as indicated. In the construction of each of the walls 6 and 7, the panel 10 on each form section is disposed in edge to edge abutment with the panel 10 on a neighboring form section, excepting at the corners of the structure where a little variation in this arrangement becomes necessary, as will soon appear. The tie pins 9, which extend through notches 16 provided in that end of each panel nearest the upright 12, have near each end an annular shoulder 17 and at each end a head 18, and the shank or neck 19 defined between each shoulder and head is adapted to be entered freely in a bayonet slot 20 in the projecting end portion 15 of a strip 15 roughly to space a form section 3 of the inner wall 6 a predetermined distance from a form section 8 of the outer wall 7 preliminary to the final lockup and rigid fastening together of sections in walls 6 and 7 by means of tie bars or levers 10.

When the bars or levers 10 are applied, as will next be described, the inner and outer walls 6 and 7 are tied together in rigidly spaced relationhip, and at the same time the neighboring form sections in each of said walls are tied together in coplanar relationship and tight abutment. The tie bars or levers 10 are permanently pivotally secured near one end of each form section 8 by means of bolts 21 entered through a slot 22 in one end of the tie bars 10 and through a registering hole 23 in strips 15, so that the tie bars 10 may be swung and also.

lockup .acgtion, namely, the tying together in rigidly spaced? relation of the inner and outer walls 6 and 7, and at the same time the tying together in coplanar relationship and tight abutment of the neighboring form sections of these inner and outer walls. In Figs. 1, 4 and 5, l have indicated at 25 the bevelling of the edge portion of the tie bar it) on opposite sides of the slot 24- on the outer side. This facilitates the interlocking engagement of the head ed ends 13 of the pins 9 in the slots 24, the form sections being thereby wedged into their final assembled positions as the tie bars it) are forced downwardly into the tying position. The elongation of the slots 22 vertically has a two-fold advantage, namely, it enables shifting the bars 16 bodily upwardly or downwardly as may be necessary to compensate for run-out of the strips from coplanar disposition of the adjoining ends that are to be coupled together on neighboring form sections, and it also enables easier coupling where the ends of the strips 15 to be coupled together do not happen to be in abutment or close to abutment, in which case the sliding' of the bar it downwardly in relation to the bolt 21 gives a slightly longer radius that is usually enough to permit engagement of the headed end 18 of the pin 9 in the slot 24, after which it is a simple matter to jog the bar 1E9 upwardly to locate the bolt 21 nearer the middle of the slot 22, thereby drawing together the ends of the neighboring form sections by the cam action of slot 22 much more tightly than would otherwise be possible. The nuts as can be loosened and tightened by hand enough to permit making whatever adjustments of the tie bars are desired and thereafter to hold the bars in adjusted position. Washers 27 are preferably provided behind the nuts 26.

At the corners of the form structure, as shown in Fig. 2, narrower form sections 8' are fastened together in right angle relation to form the inside and outside corners for walls 6 and '7, respectively, and then it is only necessary to fasten to the outer side of the outer corner section and to the inner side of the inner corner section strips 15a bent to L-shape and having on the one end the bayonet slot 219 and pivoted on the other end the tie bar 10, whereby to enable coupling these corner sections to the neighboring form sections in the inner and outer walls of the form structure.

In operation, the structure is set up starting from a corner like that shown in Fig. 2 and building onto the corner sections 8' the form sections 8, as shown in Fig. 1, two at a time, one for the inner wall 6 and the other for the outer wall 7. One man can do the work easily because the sections 8 and corner sections 8' are all light enough to lift and move into position one at a time, and after a form section 8 has been placed next to a neighboring form section 8 or in abutment with one side of a corner section 8', the pins 5 having previously been inserted in the slots 26, all that remains is for the tie bars of levers lit to be swung downwardly and forced into tying position engaging the shanks M on the headed ends id of the pins in the slots 24, as shown in Fig. 4, and in the upper portion of Fig. l. The mere entry of the opposite end portions of the pins 9 in the slots 29 is enough to loosely tie together the free ends of the form sections of the inner and outer walls 6 and 7, while the pins 9 are positively connected to said form sections well enough to serve each as a coupling pin to be connected to for positively pulling neighboring form sections in said walls into tight abutment, and then, when the tie bars or levers Til are swung downwardly into tying position, the bevels on the slotted outer ends of the bars of levers 1 wedgingly engage the heads 18 to force the strips 15 into tight abutment with the shoulders 17 on the pins 9 (see Figs. 3 and 5), and, consequently, when the tie bars or levers 1d are driven home, the form sections in the inner and outer walls 6 and 7 are rigidly spaced and the abutting form sections in said walls are at the same time secured together tightly in coplanar abutting relationship. If oneform section is higher or lower than the neighboring form section, such a jog in the structure is compensated for by adjusting the tie bar or lever 10 bodily downwardly, or upwardly, as the situation requires, and, as previously pointed out, the slots 22 give the further advantage that when neighboring form sections are not close enough to enable entering the shank 19 of the pin 9 in the slot 24, the downward movement of the slotted end of the tie bar or lever it) relative to the bolt 21 will usually afford enough increase in the radius from the bolt 21 to the outer end of the slot 24 to permit making the connection, and once the shank i9 is entered in the slot 24 the tie bar or lever ltl can then be jogged back into alignment or approximate alignment with the strips 15, and in so doing the form sections are drawn together by cam action into tight abutment by virtue of the shortening of the radius from bolt 21 to slot 24. This cam action occuring during reduction in operating radius is obtained by jogging the tie bar lull into alignment with the strips 15 and is illustrated graphically in Fig. 4 by the lines be and dc, be showing the shortest possible radius measured from the lower end of slot 22 to the entrance of slot 24, and dc showing the longest radius measured from the upper end of slot 22 to the entrance of slot 24. Both of these dimensions are longer than the line ef from bolt 21 to shank 19 in the final assembled position of the tie bar or lever lit, thereby illustrating plainly the extent to which the form sections can actually be drawn together when the tie bars or levers 10 are used properly. After the form structure has been erected and the concrete has been poured and has set and dried sufficiently so that it is safe to remove the form structure, one man can also easily do this work, because it is only necessary to loosen the tie bars or levers lid and disconnect them from the headed ends 18 of the pins 9, and bend the ends of the pins 9 enough to disengage the same from the slots 2%, when, of course, the form sections can easily be pried loose from the foundation and removed. There is very little cleaning and scraping necessary to make the form sections ready for use again. The erection of the form structure takes a small fraction of the time required with the ones using Whalers and having the form sections bolted together, and it goes without saying that the removal of the form sections with the present construction also takes only a small fraction of the time required with the old construction. As a result, just as good or even better foundations can be made using this improved concrete form construction, and a considerable saving in labor cost is realized. The protruding end portions of the pins 9 are generally broken off by bending their ends back and forth a few times until the metal crystallizes sufiiciently for the end portions to break off at the weakening notches 28 indicated in Fig. 3.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a concrete form structure, the combination of a pair of vertical form sections of rectangular form disposed in coplanar relation with their edges in abutment and adapted to be secured together detachably to define joints between the abutting sections, a spacer pin disposed at right angles to and protruding between the abutting edges of said form sections and having a head on its outer extremity, bayonet slot means on the abutting edge portion of one of said form sections and having the open end of the slot opening at said edge to receive the headed end of said pin, whereby said pin is detachably but rigidly connected with said form section and when so connected can assume a side pull outwardly relative to the edge of said form section to serve as a coupling pin to connect the form sections together in tight edge to edge abutment, and an elongated lever pivoted at one end on the other of said form sections in spaced relationship to the form abutting edge thereof and having a slot provided in its other end extending from one longitudinal edge and receiving the headed end of said pin therein for a positive coupling connection to fasten the forms together in tight edge to edge abutment.

2. A structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein said lever has an elongated slot provided in the pivoted end slidably receiving the pivot substantially parallel to the slot in the other end, whereby to permit adjustment of the pivoted end of said lever transversely to compensate for misalignment of the spacer pin with respect to the pivot and also to enable connection of the lever with the spacer pin when said pin is farther away from said pivot than usual and to draw the form sections together by cam action by transverse movement of the ends of said lever after said lever is connected with said pin.

3. A structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein the spacer pin has a shoulder thereon spaced inwardly from the head for abutment with the bayonet slot means, and said lever has both sides of the entrance of the pin receiving slot tapered toward the longitudinal edge for a wedging action behind the head on said pin to aid in tightly fastening the end portion of the pin.

4. In a concrete form structure, the combination of a pair of abutting vertical form sections each comprising a panel having reinforcing uprights secured to the outer side thereof and having horizontally extending metal strips fastened to the outer edges of the uprights, the end portions of said strips on the abutting sections being approximately in alignment and adapted to be interconnected so as to interconnect said sections, one of said end portions having a bayonet slot provided therein, a spacer pin disposed at right angles to and protruding between the abutting ends of said form sections and having an end portion engaging in said slot on which there is a head on the extremity and an annular shoulder spaced inwardly from the head, whereby said pin is loosely connected with one of said form sections, and an elongated lever pivoted at one end on the other of said end portions and having a slot provided in its other end extending from one longitudinal edge and receiving the headed end of said pin therein to fasten the forms together and at the same time tighten the pin in the bayonet slot in the end portion of said strip by tight abutment of the shoulder with the strip and tight abutment of the head with said lever.

5. In a concrete form structure, the combination of a pair of abutting vertical form sections each comprising a panel having metal strips fastened to the outer side thereof, the end portions of said strips on abutting sections being approximately in alignment and adapted to be interconnected so as to interconnect said sections, one of said end portions having a bayonet slot provided therein, a spacer pin disposed at right angles to and protruding between the abutting ends of said form sections and having an end portion engaging in said slot on which there is a head on the extremity and a shoulder spaced inwardly from the head, whereby said pin is loosely connected with one of said form sections, and an elongated lever pivoted at one end on the other of said end portions and having a slot provided in its other end extending from one longitudinal edge and receiving the headed end of said pin therein to fasten the forms together and at the'same time tighten the pin in the bayonet slot in the end portion of said strip by tight abutment of the shoulder with the strip and tight abutment of the head with said lever.

6. A structure as set forth in claim 5, wherein said lever has an elongated slot provided therein transversely thereof at the pivoted end slidably receiving the pivot, said slot being substantially parallel to the slot in the other end, whereby to permit adjustment of the pivoted end of said lever transversely to compensate for misalignment of the spacer pin with respect to the pivot and also to enable connection of the lever with the spacer pin when said pin is farther away from said pivot than usual and to draw the form sections together by cam action by trasverse movement of the ends of said lever after said lever is connected with said pin.

7. A structure as set forth in claim 5, wherein the lever has both sides of the entrance of the pin receiving slot tapered toward the longitudinal edge for a wedging action to aid in tightly fastening the end portion of the pin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,032,419 Morrill July 16, 1912 1,129,144 Venable Feb. 28, 1915 1,151,631 Walker Aug. 31, 1915 2,442,292 Hart May 25, 1948 2,704,390 Hummel Mar. 22, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 655,979 Great Britain Aug. 8, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 2,825,956 March 11, 1958 James Ca Shoemaker It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected belowo In the grant, lines 2 and 12, and in the heading to the printed specification, lines 3 and 4, name of assignee, for "Simplex Forms Systems, Inca" read Simplex Forms System, Inc,

Signed and sealed this 29th day of July 1958' (SEAL) Attest:

it MINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer Comnissioner of Patents 

